Resident Evil: Rivals
by Mike S
Summary: Thanks for the good feedback on the original! I have now updated the story, it has a couple more chapters, but it is still ongoing, I will update it soon!
1. Wake up

Rivals: Prologue and Chapter 1 ****

Disclaimer: I would like to thank Capcom Inc, for the use of some of their characters, from the Resident Evil series, and S.D. Perry, for following her series. I do not own the characters, but I do own this novel. I do not tolerate unauthorised copying, editing, selling, or distribution of this novel in any way. I am not afraid to take legal action.

(c) 2001. M.D. Sadowski

****

Rivals

****

Prologue:

__

Raccoon Times, October 23, 1998

**RACCOON CRISIS OVER**

RACCOON CITY-Order has been restored to this chaotic city at last, after weeks of terror. The US Military was called in two weeks ago as part of a clean-up operation which was fully successful. It appears as though some kind of disaster, which has baffled the experts, hit the city, as now all that remains of the citizens of Raccoon are half rotten corpses, littering the streets and roads. We spoke to top psychologist, Darryl Evans, 

"It seems as though the citizens of Raccoon all spontaneously suffered a neurological breakdown and inflated paranoia. This caused them to then kill each other, and for some reason, devour their victims."

As of now, no survivors of this bizarre incident have been found.

Raccoon Weekly Editorial, November 17, 1998

****

UMBRELLA COMPLEX TO BE RESTORED

RACCOON CITY-As over the past fortnight, civilians have been permitted to enter Raccoon City, we have been shocked to discover that Umbrella's Raccoon lab facility has been completely destroyed. It is their belief that because of the unusual incident in Raccoon, a fire was triggered in one of their labs, which came into contact with explosive chemicals, and caused a chain-reaction of explosions throughout the facility. We managed to get this statement from Umbrella spokesperson, Amanda Whitney,

"At Umbrella, we are all shocked about what has happened. This has taught us a valuable lesson, to be more safety conscious in the future. We will be restoring the Raccoon City facility as soon as possible."

Experts estimate that to restore the Raccoon city complex will cost in the region of $3.2 Billion. This has come as a shock, to many financial executives, but Umbrella is sure to have support from all of Raccoon City, to get the city back on its feet.

Paris Journal, November 23, 1998

**HCF TO EXPAND IN PARIS**

PARIS-HCF, the world's second largest pharmaceutical provider, is set to expand its Paris facility. This will be a multimillion-dollar operation, which will create several thousand jobs. Paris' mayor, Pierre Cagvaleaux, has welcomed this move.

"HCF has my full support and backing over expanding its Paris facility."

HCF was founded in England in 1981. It was the world's largest pharmaceutical provider for around ten years, until Umbrella Inc. was founded, here in Paris, in 1992. Ever since then, they have been arch-rivals. HCF's controversial move will make them the fastest growing chemical Research Company on Earth. Earlier this month, one of Umbrella's main lab facilities in America was destroyed in an explosion. This will severely handicap Umbrella's research for at least the rest of this year. This is the largest opportunity HCF has ever had to regain dominance in the pharmaceutical business. Will they waste this opportunity? Only time will tell…

****

Chapter 1:

Barry could feel the brisk winds rushing across his face-

-The rented 4x4 he managed to get near the boarder of Italy, where their plane had landed. Tearing down the French motorway with its hood down. He made sure to fill up the tank in Bonn; after having a terrible trip through Austria, where they had got themselves lost no less than four times! They had to push the 4x4 over a mile to get to the nearest gas station.

They had been driving across Europe for days now. With revenge the only thing fuelling their strength, revenge against the evil corporation, Umbrella; the corporation which has cost all of the S.T.A.R.S' members their jobs, and countless people their lives. Barry didn't really have much idea of where he was taking them, they were only going on a lead that the Umbrella Headquarters was somewhere in France, perhaps in Paris, but in reality, Umbrella HQ could be anywhere.

Chris broke the silence, "How far are we from Paris now, Barry?"

"It shouldn't be long now. About a hundred miles."

Compared with how far they'd been, one hundred miles was nothing.

Barry took a moment to take in his surroundings, the twilight was starting to set in, and the first stars were now visible from the sky. He could still just make out the silhouettes of the surrounding countryside, unusual shapes resting on the horizon.

In around an hour, they would be able to stop and rest in Paris. As the next day would be a very big day for them all.

Rebecca sat at the back of the 4x4 with Chris. She had been very bored for hours now. There had been nothing to do, and she didn't feel like speaking, and judging by the atmosphere of the car, the others felt the same way. In Austria she had prepared for the action she may face in France, but that was a long time ago. Now she had nothing more to prepare for, and boredom had completely engulfed her. She did feel an unpleasant tightness in her stomach though, and on top of this, she felt like Hell! Now all she wanted to do was stop in a motel, take a shower, and have a descent nights sleep for once.

"Chris, what will we find there?" Rebecca quietly asked Chris. Hoping for reassurance. "I don't know, knowing Umbrella, anything could be lurking there." A chill ran down Rebecca's spine.

Great! Just what I didn't want to hear.

The car fell silent again.

***

Pain flowed through his entire body; unbearable, burning pain, as if he had been stabbed everywhere. He couldn't think clearly, his mind was a haze.

Tyrant-

Zombies-

Pain-

Chris-

Barry-

Pain-

Revenge-

S.T.A.R.S!-

"Arrrgghhhhh!!" On that word his eyes slowly opened. Everything looked different, he himself had changed, he was...stronger, somehow.

He looked down at himself, and realised he was naked, and not only that, but he was standing in a round cylinder with several pads attached to his body, the kind attached to hospital patients.

Where am I?

The cylinder was clear, probably made of glass, and was very cold. He felt completely different, it was no longer him, it was something stronger, that had taken over his body, but he was still in control.

He found himself looking over a lab; people were looking at him, people in white coats watching his every move. In a swift move, he brushed off all the cords attached to him, they released a weird liquid, which smelt funny to him; spilling to the floor. The people in the lab were now in a frenzy, all running around holding clipboards and looking up at him, noting things about him, this made him feel uneasy. He banged on the cylinder wall.

"Where am I?" The one question he wanted answered, he didn't like it here, it wasn't normal. 

But then again, what's 'normal'?

A man approached the cylinder, he looked at him for a moment and then smiled.

"Greetings, Captain, it is good to have you with us." The man speaking was tall, and thin, he must have been in his forties, and had dark brown hair.

And a trench coat. Who wears a trench coat in a lab?

Captain, Captain...It came flooding back to him. He was Captain Albert Wesker of the Raccoon City S.T.A.R.S. unit. He was working with White Umbrella for a couple of years as a Consultant Researcher, until they set him up with a covert mission. He was to wipe out all of the incriminating evidence at the Spencer Estate. What happened there? God! What happened to me? I....I died!

"What happened? What's happened to me?" Panic was starting to show in his voice.

"We heard that you, Captain, were one of Umbrella's top researchers. We wanted to find you, and speak to you. But, you are a hard man to find, Captain. So when we heard that something had happened to you, at the Spencer Estate in Raccoon City, we took advantage of this great opportunity. You were...dead, when we found you, but we managed to salvage enough of your body to put our new regeneration chemical to test. We call it HCF-19. It uses the DNA of a lizard to help regenerate destroyed cells. It will also have enhanced your muscle capacity greatly, you will be much stronger, faster, and will have the ability to learn faster. Obviously, you have heard of HCF, the Hydro-Chemical-Facility, Umbrella's greatest rival, well, that's us. We have brought you back so you can join us, and help share all you have learned about White Umbrella."

What can I do, I can hardly argue with them; they gave me a second chance at life, and all these new powers they have given me. But on the other hand, I should be loyal to Umbrella, they paid me hundreds of thousands of dollars for simple tasks. What will I get out of these guys?

"What's in this for me? Am I just going to be a guinea-pig, drained of all I have to say, and then be disposed of?"

Yes, that sounds impressive.

"Unlike Umbrella, we treat our loyal staff how they deserve to be treated, we wouldn't send you in to suicide missions, like the Spencer Estate. And also, whatever you were being paid at Umbrella, we will double it. We also have a job in mind for you, when you are finished here."

This sounds great, it's not often you get an offer like this!

With that, the man pressed a button on a control panel, and the cylinder raised with a mechanic hiss.

Wesker smiled. He stretched his arms, examining them, and then he slowly walked down the three steps lowering him to the same level as the rest of the lab. Walking was now much easier; it felt to him as if he weighed as much as a feather. He looked at the man, who looked back and pointed at a man and then to him. That man ran and placed a large towel around his shoulders. Wesker started to gaze around at the lab; he saw that alongside the capsule he was being stored in were several others, each containing people. But these people looked dead, not in anywhere near as good a state as he did.

"You are the first successful specimen we've had so far, the rest have either stayed dead, or been hideously mutated." He paused, wondering how much he himself should give away, "You are very valuable to us." He finished.

Wesker didn't know how to feel about that statement. But he did know that HCF was his new company.

And with that thought, Wesker started to talk, revealing all of Umbrella's secrets.

"And, by the way, I never caught your name..." Wesker added.

The man gazed at him, "The name's Trent."


	2. The coming

**Thanks for all the comments on the first chapter ****

Chapter 2:

The journey took ages, but we finally made it! Chris just wanted to get straight to sleep. All of them seemed to be worn down, with large bags under their eyes. Chris had lasted two nights without sleep, but now he just felt like shit!

They had all arrived at a small motel on the East border of Paris. It wasn't anything much, but it had beds, and that by itself was enough! It was really cold now, and sadly, the motel rooms didn't offer much heat. The rooms were small, filled only with twin beds and a wardrobe. They got two rooms; one for Rebecca and one for him and Barry. There was also a window, revealing outside, but it was now too dark to look outside. Chris gazed at it for what seemed like ages, somehow trying to prepare himself for what would be awaiting them tomorrow. If there were more monsters, this time they would be ready!

He'd read the paper on what happened to Raccoon City, and thought that it was a shame that his hometown had been ruined (They all agreed that Umbrella must have had some part to play in this).

Jill... Is she OK? Did she manage to escape the mangled city? God, I hope so! No, she'll be fine, she can handle herself!

And besides, there's no point in worrying about the past; after all, if he didn't get over it by tomorrow, then there was a possibility that he might make a fatal mistake, and he definitely didn't want that. So somehow he had managed to... to just let it go.

***

'Ahh!' She hadn't felt this revived in ages. It was like she had just had a dust cover taken off of her.

I feel so fresh now, so clean.

The shower was just what Rebecca needed; now she felt like she could do anything. 

Tomorrow's gonna be a breeze.

With a smile she thought realistically again. That idea was rubbish, it would probably be the hardest day of her life.

She couldn't help but wonder what would happen when they got there, would there be armed guards, or even monsters? Or for once in her life would everything there be straightforward? But it was a mission nonetheless, so she would have to be professional about it. She also had an objective to complete: It was her task to find chemical evidence of Umbrella's activities, and a T-Virus sample was her best bet.

That would nail those bastards to the spot!

Rebecca looked around her room. It was pretty small, but it would do. 

It sure was nice, those guys letting me have this room all to myself. She grinned to herself, thinking of Chris.

It's a shame he's not here...

She'd be OK, though. They were only next door. Less than ten feet away. A bedside lamp dimly lighted the room. She was halfway through drying her hair. She rubbed the towel over it thoroughly. While doing this, she glanced towards her alarm clock.

I think I'll go straight to bed after I've dried my hair.

***

He had gone to call on Rebecca, when he decided he'd better not. She'd said that she was very tired, and it would probably be the best thing to leave her alone. Never annoy a sleeping woman! He knew that out of experience.

He'd taken a liking to Rebecca, as a friend. He saw her kind of like a daughter, he looked out for her.

So it's probably for the best, that she doesn't come.

Chris had fallen asleep as soon as his head had touched his pillow. But that was after staring out of a window for ten minutes; Barry never understood that, how whenever anything important was coming about, Chris would always look so calm, and do nothing.

People have their ways, I suppose.

But inside, Barry had always felt the slightest bit of jealousy towards Chris. Chris had always been more popular than him, and he was much more able than himself. Thinking about that always made Barry feel bad. They had been friends for years, they had even gone to the training academy together.

Well I suppose I'd better be off.

With that, Barry walked down the corridor of the motel towards the exit. The walls were blue, with white, glossy doors lining the left hand side; and large windows on the right. He reached the end of the corridor and turned right with the bend, and stepped through a door, out into the darkness.

***

Everything was now clear to him, Trent had given him a thorough briefing, as soon as he had finished discussing Umbrella. Umbrella had developed a new Virus known as the T-Veronica Virus. It was now his mission to get it, and give it to HCL. But it wasn't as easy as it sounded, because HCL has no idea where the T-Veronica Virus is being contained. It's his job to find that out too.

Who cares how hard, how dangerous it'll be, I'm getting paid more money than I can count!

Wesker grinned. Picturing himself receiving his money. He was going to be a rich son of a bitch!

Wesker was walking away from the HCF facility, down the dark, empty streets. He was planning to track down some Umbrella employees and interrogate them. Trent had promised him that he wouldn't need a gun anymore, but he wasn't sure, he did like having a gun as a form of protection.

But as I'm so 'special' to Trent, then I'm sure he must be right.

It was pitch black now, the wind blowing softly. He'd heard about a bar where Umbrella employees tend to hide out, so that was his best bet. It was only about a ten-minute walk from here. He'd be there in five.


	3. Confrontation

Chapter 3: ****

Chapter 3:

Things were going perfect so far, with the experiments on Wesker being successful, and him being co-operative. But sadly he had caught on to our intentions. Once he has succeeded in his mission, then he's useless. We won't destroy him. Just experiment with him; find out why our tests worked on him, and no one else. But having the T-Veronica Virus, that would be no worry to him. The T-Veronica Virus has endless potential:

We.... No, I could rule the world with it!

Wesker had better find it! Wesker, that fool, constantly overestimating his importance.

Trent smiled.

He's nothing!

Trent thought back, to when his father was still with him. His smile changed to a look of intensity. 'I'll do you proud, father!'

His father, the founder of HCF, he was a genius. When Umbrella had emerged, he's the one that had the great idea, to enrol me within their ranks. It was my job to steal Umbrella's secrets, report them to my father, and even to sabotage them. The S.T.A.R.S, they had been a great help! I made sure to help them out, give them all the info they needed. Heh! They're probably still trying to find ways to destroy Umbrella!

Well, any little helps!

***

Barry had started out towards a bar; he'd heard that Umbrella workers went to drink there. From what he'd heard, it was a scummy little joint, but hopefully, all he needed would be there. And it was just around the corner.

I'll also be able to get a little pick-me-up from there.

And there it was nothing special, just an ordinary bar. But the rumours he'd heard were right: it was a shithole. He pushed the door open, and several eyes glanced his way. It was unlike a regular bar, it was quiet, too quiet, and nobody was speaking! He instantly felt like he wasn't welcome.

The walls were brown, and in some places the plaster was revealed. The tile floor was dusty. And it generally felt gloomy inside. There were about a dozen people inside, several around the bar. Many of them were still staring at him. He was now starting to wish he were somewhere else. But this was the place; some of the people here could be working for Umbrella.

Barry walked up to the bar on his left, when suddenly the barman spoke, 'Whaddya want?' the voice was unwelcoming and he couldn't decide whether he meant, what he wanted to drink, or why he was here, so he looked towards one of the crowd by the bar. 'Actually, I wanted to ask a couple of these guys some questions.' They all looked up towards him.

Shit, I really shouldn't be here!

'Go on, then.' The one of the men growled.

'Do any of you work for Umbrella?' He glanced over all of them.

'Who wants to know?' another man replied, aggressively.

'My name's Barry. I work for the American Police, I want to ask you something.'

'Get lost, scum! We don't like your sort around here!' one of the men snapped. They all nodded, muttering things Barry couldn't quite pick up.

'But this is important!' Barry was starting to feel desperate.

'OUT!' the barkeeper had jumped to his feet, pointing towards the door.

'Okay. But I'll be back!'

Shit! This has all gone wrong, they won't tell me anything. Now what?

He muttered a curse at the barkeeper, and was making his way towards the door. He turned, facing the crowd again. They stared back.

He wasn't welcome and he knew it!

And with that, he pushed the door, and stepped back out into the darkness...Only to walk into someone, someone familiar.

'Hullo, Mr Burton. Long time no see!'

***

Chris was dozing happily in his bed, when suddenly he was woken. By a piercing scream.

It was Rebecca, no doubt about it. Chris leapt up, he grabbed his Beretta from his bedside cabinet and bolted for the door, only to find that he was locked in.

Shit! Barry must have gone out and locked the door!.

Chris started bashing into the door, using his shoulder as a battering ram. It hurt like hell, but that didn't matter, Rebecca was in trouble!

Crashing through the doorway, the door smashing into the Hall wall, Chris ran straight to Rebecca's door, tugging at the handle.

Shit, another locked door!

Chris banged on it, 'Rebecca, are you okay?'

He waited; there was no reply. He banged again, harder than before. 'Rebecca!?' he yelled. 

No response.

That was it, he needed to be in that room. He kicked the door twice. It still wouldn't budge. In his frustration he gripped his Beretta and aimed straight down at the lock.

Bang!

The lock blasted inwards, and like clockwork the door swung open.

Chris charged into the room, gripping his gun even tighter. He looked around.

Shit! She's gone.

Observing the room even closer, he saw that the window had been smashed. Inwards, as most of the debris had landed inside. He ran to the window and stared out, looking towards all the places she could have gone.

Nothing.

He ran back to his room, threw some clothes on, which were scattered over the floor by his bed, holstered his Beretta and flew out of the room.


	4. Darkness

Chapter 4:  
  
Chris ran down the darkened street, his heart pounding. Nobody was anywhere to be seen.  
  
Damn! Where are you Rebecca?  
  
He noticed a sound: footsteps. Running, he had to hurry to find her. He ran, lead by his ears down a narrow alley. The footsteps had stopped. Chris unholdstered his gun and started surveying his surroundings. A few trashcans lay in front of him, spilled out with litter everywhere. It was dark, too dark to notice details on anything, just silhouettes.  
  
Suddenly he noticed something move sharply in front of him, running away from him. Chris yelled. 'WAIT!!'  
  
The silhouette carried on running. It was odd, the shape moved so fast, almost too fast to be human. Chris sprinted down the alley after it, knowing that it was futile, the object was way too fast for him to catch. Suddenly Chris' foot caught on something and he tripped. He landed in a stack of boxes, causing some to topple down around him. His gun flew out of his hands into the darkness.  
  
Shit!  
  
Chris fumbled around; the man was gone. He was left alone in the alley, and to make things better he'd just lost his gun and hurt his leg. He pushed some of the boxes away from him and pulled himself up. But no sooner was he up than down. He collapsed with pain onto the floor again. His ankle: sprained maybe? He gritted his teeth and grabbed hold of a box next to him to help steady him as he pulled himself onto his strong leg.  
  
I need to get this seen to!  
  
He looked to see if he could spot his gun, but he was in too much pain to concentrate. It didn't take him long to give up. He slowly walked back the way he had came, towards the exit of the alley. Thoughts rushed through his head of what he was going to do. Nothing seemed right, Rebecca was gone, and he was alone in a dark alley with a painful ankle.  
  
***  
  
Wesker wiped the blood off his hands, and gave a sly grin.  
  
Nasty business, that. Now, back to finding Chris.  
  
He was walking down a street in the heart of the city. Looking around, just taking a minute to admire his surroundings. The street was run-down and in a bad state, most of the shop windows were smashed and litter lined the streets. Not a soul was about; it was silent.  
  
Now where do I start looking? I've got an entire city to search.  
  
He turned down an alley leading into darkness. A few boxes were knocked down, it looks like someone has trashed the place. He carried on walking down the alley to see what was on the adjacent street.  
  
Hello?  
  
Wesker looked down. His eyes caught sight on a gun, lying in the middle of an alley.  
  
A Beretta? Wait. What's this inscription?  
  
"C.R."  
  
Interesting. It appears as though my friend is more careless than I had expected. If I didn't know any better I'd think that he was leading me right to him.  
  
Wesker gripped the gun tightly in his hand and squeezed. The gun crumpled like foil; Wesker threw the crushed mess to the floor. He let out a smile.  
  
I love what Trent has done to me! I'm indestructible!  
  
He then carried on down the darkened alley. Just when he thought things couldn't get any better they did. Imagine, Chris being in the area!  
  
I must hurry! He might still be around!  
  
On that thought, Wesker ran.  
  
Chris is close; I can feel it!  
  
He ran out of the alley and scoured the streets, looking for him.  
  
***  
  
Chris slowly limped towards his motel, the only place where he could get his wound fixed without drawing attention on himself. He needed to find Barry, so he could help him find Rebecca. He got to the entrance and fell into the door. He collapsed on the floor in the corridor and struggled to get up. He eased his way towards his room door and fumbled in his pocket for his keys. He then pushed the key into the lock and the door opened.  
  
It was lucky because they had been preparing for a dangerous encounter, so they had packed several first aid kits. He opened one, eased his shoe off (it hurt like hell anyway!), took his sock off and lifted his trouser leg up. His ankle was red and inflamed; a little blood trickled out of a scratch in his leg. He grabbed a pack of aspirin and gulped a couple of the pills down without hesitation. He then rubbed some cream into his ankle, which soothed the pain a little, then he wrapped a bandage around it. He put some antiseptic balm on his cut and put a small plaster on it.  
  
Much better!  
  
The aspirin had started to wear in and it hurt much less. He packed away the first aid kit and lay on his bed thinking about how everything had suddenly gone wrong. Rebecca's gone, his ankle is screwed up and he's lost his gun.  
  
Great! And we haven't even come across the 'enemy' yet!  
  
Chris lay. Letting all the thoughts and problems drift out of his head. 


End file.
